"What Women Want" is a romantic comedy of such easygoing charm and deft
humor that it seems to virtually glide across the screen – not unlike
Mel Gibson in a charming Chapter 4 sequence that pays visual homage to
Gene Kelly, audio tribute to Frank Sinatra and generally sets the tone
for what is to follow.

In this key scene, Gibson’s Nick Marshall, a hotshot Chicago ad exec
who’s known as a macho man’s man, has been dealt a double whammy.
First, he’s been passed over for an expected promotion in favor of a
female outsider, Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), and what’s more, he’s
expected to dream up promotional ideas for a batch of women’s consumer
products. Nick turns to a Sinatra record for inspiration. As Ol’ Blue
Eyes croons "I Won’t Dance" in a silkily enveloping arrangement that
coasts with assurance through the mains and rears, Nick dances out his
frustration while singing in the center channel in a voice that blends
surprisingly pleasingly with the Sinatra rendition.

The sequence accomplishes several things. For starters, it shows us
that Gibson is a very decent dancer, his face in frame with his feet
often enough to indicate that it’s the actor and not a double most of
the time. More important to the overall film, the moment creates an
atmosphere of enchantment. When, shortly afterwards, Nick is
electrocuted and recovers to find himself suddenly able to
telepathically "hear" all female thoughts, it’s an event that fits
easily into the universe depicted by director Nancy Meyers and
screenwriters Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa, working from a story by
Goldsmith, Yuspa and Diane Drake.

Nick initially freaks out, running for help to a shrink (an uncredited
cameo by a very funny Bette Midler). However, once he gets a grip on
his new psychic ability, Nick starts out by using it to undermine
Darcy, passing her concepts off as his own. Since Darcy can’t know that
Nick is picking her brain, so to speak, she simply supposes that she
and Nick have similar viewpoints. However, understanding Darcy so
intimately causes Nick to start falling in love with him. It also helps
him bond with his heretofore estranged teenaged daughter (Ashley
Johnson), make enormously successful love to an erstwhile reluctant
date (Marisa Tomei) and detect the suicidal depression of an employee
(Judy Greer).

There’s actually a lot of potential ickiness in the premise here, but
"What Women Want" is so smooth and so breezily funny from the outset
that it’s not until after the film is over that we realize how many
pitfalls it avoids. For one thing, Nick never comes off as a
caricatured Neanderthal – his sexism is of the socially acceptable,
boys-will-be-boys type. On the flip side, there’s no overt lecturing
(in the film, at least – the supplemental material leans in places
toward the didactic), nor is the romance smarmy.

Primarily, "Women" runs on a series of great jokes. There are sight
gags, like Nick – duty-bound to try to comprehend the appeal of hosiery
– trying on a pair of pantyhouse. There’s also a lot of verbal human in
the women’s thoughts that we can hear along with Nick. In a scene in
Chapter 9, as our hero starts to bed down with his date, the difference
between the faked enthusiasm she shows Nick and what Nick knows is
going on in her mind (along with his efforts to change course without
letting on he’s reading her mind) is enough to make you laugh out loud.

However, the film truly rises and falls on Gibson’s unspoken but
plainly transmitted thoughts as his Nick contemplates what he’ll do
with each new bit of secret information. It’s not easy to be entirely
likable when portraying a sort of self-interested spy, but Gibson
manages the feat. He’s surrounded by an excellent supporting cast, led
by Hunt as the extremely personal Darcy and Alan Alda as
Nick’simultaneously high-handed and craven boss.

The sound mix is attractive, with an appropriate, almost subliminal
echo effect on dialogue that is thought, which differentiates it from
the words spoken aloud by the characters. The soundtrack leans toward
lush big band arrangements, with several more Sinatra numbers ("I’ve
Got You Under My Skin" and "Too Marvelous For Words"), Sammy Davis
Jr.’s renditions of "Something’s Gotta Give" and "Mack the Knife" and
Peggy Lee’s "I’ve Got the World on a String." There are also more
contemporary numbers – Nick’s Chapter 5 sing-along with Meredith
Brooks’ "Bitch" (again, he’s singing quietly in the center while the
familiar version pumps around him) is a hoot.

There aren’t too many showy effects on either the soundtrack or the
monitor screen. The DVD faithfully reproduces the rich jewel tones of
blue night skies, green trees and gold lighting, and the audio
precisely replicates the sound of individual ball bearings striking the
floor and rolling around dimensionally in Chapter 5 and good rain
surround effects in Chapter 15, but just about everything with the
potential to be loud is kept reined in, like the big electrical events
in Chapters 5 and 15.

Supplemental material includes a making-of, plus a batch of interviews
that’s essentially an alternate making-of. There’s also an audio
commentary track with director Meyers and production designer Jon
Hutman. All of these are agreeable, although this is an instance where
most of the participants articulate their craft best by performing it
rather than analyzing it.

"What Women Want" is smart, swift, sometimes hilarious and consistently
enjoyable. It’s not deep enough or singular enough to gain a permanent
grip on most imaginations, but as far as entertaining romantic comedies
go, it probably qualifies as what practically everybody wants.